Online Resources for More Psalms of David

Offline Resources for More Psalms of David

Information on More Psalms of David

James Charlesworth writes (The Pseudepigrapha and Modern Research, pp.
202-204):

Some Syriac manuscripts preserve five apocryphal psalms, frequently entitled
Psalms of David. An edition of the Syriac was published by M. Noth ("Die
fünf syrisch überlieferten apokryphen Psalmen," ZAW
48 [1930] 1-23; repr. in M. Delcor, no. 1374), and a critical edition of the
Syriac was published recently by W. Baars (no. 1370). The Five Syriac Psalms
were translated by W. Wright ("Some Apocryphal Psalms in Syriac,"
Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology 9 [1887] 257-66)
and by A. Mingana, who also appended a facsimile of Mingana Syr. 31 ("Some
Uncanonical Psalms," Woodbrooke Studies. Cambridge: Heffer, 1927.
Vol. 1, pp. 288-92 [trans.], pp. 293f. [facsimile]). The Hebrew text of Syriac
Psalms 1, 2, and 3 has been found in Qumran Cave Eleven; these have been edited
with an English translation by J. A. Sanders (no. 1380). The first psalm is
also extant in Greek, since the Psalter in the Septuagint contains 151 psalms
(Sanders, no. 1380, pp. 54f., 60, conveniently juxtaposes the Greek and Hebrew;
for the Latin version see R. Weber, no. 1395).

The prerequisite, unfortunately sometimes ignored, for an understanding of
these five psalms is the recognition that they must be examined separately.
The first three Syriac Psalms are at least as old as the Qumran Psalms Scroll,
which was copied in the first half of the first century A.D. (Sanders, no.
1380, p. 9; J. Strugnell, no. 1391d, p. 207). Syriac Psalm 1 is the oldest,
and is pre-Christian, and perhaps pre-Qumranian (Sanders, nos. 1380, 1384,
1387; J. Carmignac, no. 1372; W. H. Brownlee, no. 1371). Most scholars (viz.
Sanders, nos. 1380, 1383, 1387; A. Hurvitz, nos. 1377j, 1378; S. Talmon, no.
1393; J. A. Goldstein, no. 1377b; R. Polzin, no. 1378k; and S. B. Gurewicz,
no. 1377d) conclude that both Psalm 1 and the others date from the hellenistic
period; thus they reject both the contention, which was never developed, that
Psalm 1 is earlier than the sixth century B.C. (cf. W. F. Albright, no. 1369a),
and the interpretation that it is late and Karaitic (cf. S. B. Hoenig, no.
1377g, p. 332).

Several scholars have concluded that one or more of these psalms were composed
by the Essenes (viz. M. Philonenko, "L'origene essénienne des
cinq psaumes syriaques de David." Sem 9 (1959) 35-48; idem,
nos. 1378i, 1378j; Delcor, "Cinq nouveaux psaumes esséniens?"
RQ 1 (1958) 85-102; idem, nos. 1374, 1375; A. Dupont-Sommer,
no. 1376; cf. F. Christ, no. 1373b). Most contend correctly that while some
passages can be interpreted in line with Essene theology, there are not sufficient
data to conclude that they are Essene (viz. Sanders, no. 1387, p. 73; Carmignac,
no. 1372; Brownlee, no. 1371; A. S. van der Woude, no. 1397, p. 35). There
is a consensus that the original language of at least the first three Syriac
Psalms is Hebrew.

Psalm 1 apparently consists of two originally separate psalms, Psalm 151A
and Psalm 151B, which recount respectively how David was elevated from a common
shepherd to the anointed ruler (7 vss.) and how he defeated the Philistine
Goliath (11QPsa is fragmentary; cf. Syr.
MS Mingana 31). Psalm 2 contains 20 verses which exhort the worshipper to
glorify God. Psalm 3, of 19 (in Hebrew) or 21 (in Syriac) verses, is a personal
thanksgiving (individualles Danklied) because the Lord answered the
sinner's cry. Psalm 4 isa plea to be delivered from the lion and the wolf
who prey upon the "flock of my father"; hence it is a David pseudepigraphon
(cf. 1Sam 17:34-37). Psalm 5 is a personal thanksgiving for deliverance, and
is conceivably also a David pseudepigraphon since the psalmist was about to
be devoured "by two (wild) beasts."

The early date and pseudepigraphical character indicate that these Psalms
should be contained in the Pseudepigrapha. It is improbable that 11QPsa
is either the earliest Jewish prayer-book, as M. H. Goshen-Gottstein (no.
1377c) and Talmon (nos. 1393, 1393a; according to Sanders, no. 1385, p. 96,
Talmon has now abandoned this hypothesis) suggested, or a "library edition"
of the already canonized Psalter, as P. Skehan (nos. 1391, 1391a, 1391b) claims.
The presence of so-called apocryphal psalms within the "Psalter"
indicates that the distinction between canonical and apocryphal psalms was
not clarified before the advent of Christianity (cf. Sanders, nos. 1380, 1381,
1382, 1382a, 1383, and esp. 1385; and Hurvitz, no. 1378).

James Charlesworth and J. A. Sanders write: "The presence of these psalms
within the Qumran Psalter (11QPsa) raises the
question of the extent of the Davidic Psalter prior to the destruction of Jerusalem
in A.D. 70. At Qumran, of course, the Psalter was appreciably different from
the present collection in Hebrew; but what was the shape of the Psalter elsewhere?
M. H. Goshen-Gottstein has argued that the Psalter was already set (and canonized)
by the second century B.C. and that excerpts from it, along with apocryphal
compositions, were placed in 11QPsa, which
is therefore the earliest 'Jewish prayerbook.' A similar interpretation is defended
by P. Skehan, who contends that 11QPsa is a
'library edition' of the 'standard collection of 150 Psalms.' The presence of
'apocryphal' psalms such as the Prayer of Manasseh, and the Psalms of Solomon,
which were considered inspired by many Jews around the turn of the era, along
with the presence of apocryphal psalms in 11QPsa
indicate the distinction between canonical and apocryphal psalms had not been
clarified before the advent of Christianity." (The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha,
vol. 2, p. 610)

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